Passing the Torch
The small log cabin shack tucked between strip shopping centers looks strangely out of place, and but for the dozen or more cars surrounding it, you might think it had been abandoned among the urban blight of the 1950’s retail district. But, after stepping from your car and catching the first whiff of the sweet aroma of hickory smoke, you know you’re in for a unique dining experience. It’s the hickory wood – along with their patented barbeque sauce – that gives the meat at Tom & Bingo’s Hickory Pit Bar-B-Que its consistent, perfect flavor in every bite.
I’m told this location was once next to an ice house where folks could purchase blocks of ice and wrap them in blankets to carry home to make iced tea and homemade ice cream they enjoyed with the barbeque they purchased by the pound.
The Tom & Bingo’s I grew up to know and love is still the log cabin shack that sits on 34th street in Lubbock, Texas, and once had saw dust floors instead of the sterile linoleum that is now a food safety requirement. This is the same exact location Tom Clanton chose to open up his iconic BBQ pit in 1952. Hardly anything, but the saw dust floors, has changed since then. From the distinct architectural design, to the little school desks that are placed inside, along the perimeter of the building serving as the only seating for its patrons who line up outside the door and salivate as they wait to place orders in full view of the meat being sliced for the beef or smoked burgers which serve as the few items on the menu.
Contrary to local lore, Bingo was not a dog who was Tom’s beloved pet, but a friend who was his business partner that went by the name of Bingo Mills. The original Tom & Bingo’s started in East Texas where Tom Clayton, and his cousin, Bingo, owned a lumber yard together. The story goes they began using scraps of hickory wood to smoke meat and sell sandwiches to local customers. Tom and Bingo started out with only one item on the menu at the time, the Bingo Burger, a small smoked compressed meat patty with all the typical fixings, a smoky flavor, and a unique name, that soon made it a staple for the famous barbeque sandwich. After getting married and starting a family, Tom decided to get out of the lumber business, move to Lubbock to get a larger customer base for his unique brand of barbeque, and open his own restaurant.
After finding the perfect location in a growing area of town, Tom actually used wood from his lumber yard to build the Tom & Bingo’s location on 34th Street in Lubbock which stands behind J.T. Hutchinson Middle School to this very day.
The role of pit master passed to Tom’s son, Dwayne, after Tom passed away in the early seventies. Dwayne, who was already a local sports legend, having pitched for two high school teams that competed – and won -- the Texas state high school championship, operated Tom & Bingo’s for more than forty years. Over those years, this small barbeque joint developed a legendary reputation and a devoted clientele in a state that prides itself for its famous brand of smoked meats.
Dwayne was a beloved presence in the Lubbock community, and his unexpected passing of the pit master torch caused by his sudden death earlier this year, due to an autoimmune disease, shocked his whole family and the community at large. Now, Dwayne’s son-in-law, Ian Timmons, has taken over the prestigious role as pit master making everyone wonder what changes he’ll make after taking charge of this Lubbock staple.
During a recent visit to get my mandatory barbeque fix when back home, Ian was kind enough to have a conversation over the phone with me about the history and the current challenges he faces operating a well-known community restaurant like Tom & Bingo’s. He explained, “The Bingo Burger was the original thing that they sold back in the day. Kids from Hutch would save up their money for the Bingo Burger and come over to Tom & Bingo’s for lunch. Now most of the Bingo Burgers that we sell are to those same kids that saved their 50 cents to buy a sandwich and a coke every day during lunchtime.”
I personally attended “Hutch” – J.T. Hutchinson Middle School in Lubbock – but the changing educational environment and school rules prohibited me from leaving school during our lunch period. Back when my father attended Hutch, he was one of the kids that lined up every day before the lunch bell rang to race down the street to get a mouthwatering Bingo Burger, chips and a coke for his lunch. I remember my father telling me a story almost every time he took me to Tom & Bingo’s, about when he and his friends, Richard and Mike, were racing to get to the front of the line. It was the standard routine every day. They had gym before the lunch period, Dad, and all the other guys would line up at the gym door and wait for the bell to ring to see who could be first out the door. One day when the bell rang for lunch, Mike and Richard, were the first ones out the door, and were in the lead as they crossed the street off campus and into the alley to get to the BBQ shack. Richard was in the lead and as he turned into the alley a moving car clipped him right about the knees. As the driver slammed on the brakes, Richard did a perfect somersault as he flew over the hood of the car, hit feet first, and kept running to successfully be the first in line.
When I asked my dad why it was Tom & Bingo’s and not another restaurant to create such passion, he responded, “It was close to school obviously but it was cheap barbeque and it was the best. I always tried to get two Bingo Burgers which were 15 cents apiece and a big 20 cent coke. A 50 cent lunch.”
When I asked my father what he thought Tom and Bingos represents about Lubbock he told me one thing, “Why it … represents the can-do American spirit. That you can take a small business and make it your passion. Keep making good food, keep up a good relationship with the customers and that’s how they prosper.” Tom & Bingo’s enduring success truly is proof that passion and career can go hand in hand with dedication and effort.
Others agree. Tom & Bingo’s has been recognized countless times in such publications as The Texas Monthly and The Lubbock Avalanche Journal for its delicious tasting sandwiches and authentic and unique atmosphere. The Texas Monthly’s review of the chopped brisket sandwich in 2014 clearly describing Tom’s attitude about adding things to the menu, “Dwayne Clanton is 59 and was raking sawdust off the floor of Tom & Bingo’s in Lubbock when he was eight. His dad Tom Clanton moved from Quitman and opened Tom & Bingo’s Bar-B-Q (1952) with Gaston Ray ‘Bingo’ Mills. He brought his hickory wood with him from East Texas and smoked only beef and ham. ‘We’ve had the same two items since 1952.’ Smoked burgers were added later and the sausage just showed up two years ago. Tom may have used beef shoulders to start off with, but Dwayne said it didn’t take long to switch to all briskets. ‘Brisket back then was not very popular…There used to be a meat company in El Paso called Peyton Packing Company. They told my dad that if he’d buy his hams from them they’d give him the briskets.’ Nowadays, Dwayne still smokes whole briskets over hickory, and sandwiches are still the only option.” (Daniel Vaughn, The Texas Monthly).
Not much has changed at the local restaurant because not much needs to change. The local customers like taking their greasy, paper wrapped sandwiches home with them or (if you’re like me) you have to sit and eat them right then and there on those benches you can hardly fit into. Tom & Bingo’s has been represented in The Texas Monthly’s “Top 50 BBQ Joints” and once was the sole representative of the city of Lubbock’s BBQ restaurants. Most people should understand that the simplicity of the building was something that Dwayne cherished and it was probably because of this sentiment that he never moved to a larger, more visible location. His father had built this building to support his family and do what he personally loved doing by hand in this intimate setting.
The idea of expanding to different locations moving to larger quarters is something the next generation may consider because with Dwayne’s death comes the inevitable changes that passing along a family inevitably entails. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the smoking process that is the hallmark of this business. The sign that was up when Dwayne smoked his meat is the same sign that his son-in-law Ian puts up every morning, “Open from 11am till we sell out!” and they sell out every day. The concept of Ian Timmons being the pit master may cause as a bit of a concern to the local customers who expect the same great taste every time they enter the restaurant, but to me he is as much a true Clanton as Dwayne was, and I’m sure he feels the same.
Ian moved to Lubbock when he was eight years old. He had to move to an entirely different school, make all new friends, and basically start from scratch. When Ian moved into his house, he noticed a girl and her friend playing outside and he walked up to her and introduced himself. This young girl was Kristi Clanton, Dwayne’s daughter. The two grew up together and ended up dating their freshman year of college. They have been married for 9 years now and moved to Denver, Colorado for a short time before moving back to Lubbock to begin the prestigious process of becoming the sole pitmaster of Tom and Bingos.
When Ian and Kristi were dating Ian had a job at the local Italian restaurant Orlando’s. After Ian lost his job there, Kristi’s mother and Dwayne’s wife, Liz, suggested Ian get a job at Tom & Bingo’s. There Ian learned the ins and outs of slowly cooking the savory meat in the smokehouse with the signature hickory wood. Dwayne had been planning to retire as pit master due to his age and had already chose Ian to be his successor. Ian told me, “We started to move back in June, Dwayne wanted to retire and so I gladly accepted his offer to take over. Then, as you know, Dwayne suddenly passed away and after a week off I had to take over.” Kristi, Ian’s wife and Dwayne’s daughter, is now in charge of the restaurant’s Facebook page and she was nice enough to arrange my interview with Ian. Liz, Kristi’s mother, made a post on Facebook shortly after Dwayne‘s passing about the “passing of the torch” to Ian as the head pit master. “Please keep 3rd generation, pit master, Ian Timmons, in your prayers as he plans to reopen on 7/24 & carry on the tradition of my husband…”
Dwayne’s memorial service was the week before Ian opened up as head pit master for the first time. In the obituary of Dwayne Clanton the author wrote a truly moving ending sentence to memorialize Dwayne Clanton, “Dwayne was a humble family man. He was real. He was very set in his ways, and lucky for us his ways were hard-working, loving and providing for his family- which he always put first. Dwayne’s true joy in life was his wife, daughters, granddaughter, and siblings…his entire family. He was the best son, brother, husband, dad and granddad. Dwayne was our rock, our leader our love. He was ready to fight, but Jesus had other plans.” Dwayne passed away on the weekend of July 15th due to a battle with an auto immune disease. Sarah Self-Walbrick had something to say in her article on Dwayne’s passing, “Under Clanton’s ownership, Tom & Bingo’s barbecue was featured by The Texas Monthly, Texas Country Reporter and ESPN College Game Day. The restaurant’s barbecue sauce is available in select Market Street and HEB locations, giving the brand statewide fame.” Dwayne had a prestigious reputation in the BBQ community for countless years as pit master and his praise can be seen in the many articles about his sandwiches:
“For more than fifty years, this boxy luncheonette has turned out sliced- and chopped-beef sandwiches as good as you’ll ever eat, plus smoked-ham sandwiches and smoked burgers. That’s all, but that’s enough.” (Texas Monthly Staff)
“Tom & Bingo’s has been serving barbecue since November 1, 1952. The flavor of the beef and the tenderness, juiciness and that unbelievably delicious sauce that they make is something to wait in line for. The only problem with Tom and Bingo is they are only open for lunch.” (Lubbock Restaurants)
“Calling this place a shack is an insult to decrepit buildings everywhere, but appearances are forgotten when you taste the smoked ham and brisket sandwiches (have the latter chopped).” (Lonely Planet)
As you can clearly tell the reputation of the restaurant knows no bounds and now Ian is determined to keep the tradition alive. Ian hopes to eventually open up more restaurants to spread the great tasting meat and perfectly smoked dishes. According to Ian not much has changed since he took over, Ian has started a catering business for the shack to branch out and recently purchased a new cash register but as far as cooking and tradition goes, nothing is different.
With his marriage to Kristi, came a bond, and not just a bond of love or a bond between two people, but a bond between two families. Something that was formed and upheld out of love. If there was a perfect match for melding the old with the new, there could be no better choice than Ian becoming Tom & Bingo’s pit master. Tom and Dwayne would be proud that the tradition continues.
